Why do antidepressants take several months to build up proper levels but only a few days to metabolize out?
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Imagine your brain is a natural environment, like a field. The good chemicals in your brain (the ones that help you feel calm, happy, satisfied, etc) are like a small river flowing through. All around the river grow lots of plants and trees (or, that is to say, hobbies, things you enjoy, etc). Those can grow big and tall next to the river since they have lots of water flowing past.
Now in someone who’s depressed (due to lack of chemicals), their river is barely a trickle, barely enough to support some shrubs and small trees or grasses. What SSRIs (Selective Seratonin Reuptake Inhibitors) do is build a dam in the river. Over time, that small trickle of water adds up and forms a small pond. Now there’s plenty of water, and once the pond is established, trees and bushes can grow along the banks and we’ve got a nice environment going.
But what happens if you tear down that dam? All of the water in the pond rushes away, and you’re left with a large, bare area where it used to be. The little trickle of water is still flowing, but it’s not enough to fill the pond, let alone to keep the large trees alive. So you have to rebuild the dam and let that trickle of water slowly fill the pond back up, which will take a little while, depending on how much of the water flowed out, or leave it gone and let the small bushes and grasses go back to where the creek flows, which will probably take longer.
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